


See You in the Dark

by ThrillingDetectiveTales



Series: Tumblr Jukebox [1]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 05:16:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11074824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThrillingDetectiveTales/pseuds/ThrillingDetectiveTales
Summary: A short Tumblr fill about owls and eventide."There were owls, somewhere, screeching riotously into the dark. Goody stared for a moment at the distant tree line, searching for the shape of wings unfurling overhead, waiting for their unholy shadow to throw a pall over the evening, blot out the distant glimmer of stars, but it never came."





	See You in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I'm doing a dumb Tumblr fill thing whereI write a roughly 500-word fill about a requested character/pairing based on whatever song comes up on shuffle. This is one of them. [Feel free to request your own!](http://thrillingest.tumblr.com)
> 
> Jam for this one is "Oblivion" by Grimes.

The night was crisp and dark when they finally broke for camp, winding around them like a cat, curling in close to their bodies and leaving traces of itself everywhere it touched. Goody could feel it licking against the back of his neck, catching the attention of the hum underneath his skin that never seemed to settle, kicking it up to an angry buzz like hornets rattling about in his bones.

  
There were owls, somewhere, screeching riotously into the dark. Goody stared for a moment at the distant tree line, searching for the shape of wings unfurling overhead, waiting for their unholy shadow to throw a pall over the evening, blot out the distant glimmer of stars, but it never came. There was a familiar, gentle pressure at his wrist and he glanced over to find Billy watching him, eyes just as dark as the shadows nipping at their heels but infinitely warmer.

  
He had one hand curled around Goody’s wrist, his bare fingers bars of heat, driving out the chill that was trying to worm its way insistently under Goody’s skin. He had a familiar little twist of white paper hanging from the corner of his mouth, and a match in his other hand. Without breaking his gaze, he struck it against the one of the elegantly etched ornamental sheaths he wore at his waist, dragging his thumb across the delicate bones of Goody’s wrist and striking a spark therein as surely as one danced to life on the match-head.

  
“Owls,” Goody said, summoning a weak smile, and canting his head toward the looming shadows where scrub gave way to forest. Billy arched an eyebrow, smirked around a decadent stream of sweet white smoke.

  
“I hear them,” he agreed, and Goody felt relief flow in a sticky river down his spine, slow and warm like honey. If Billy heard them it meant they were real. Birds. Little collections of feathers and bones and instinct. Despite the handful of colloquialisms that argued to the contrary, Goody had never known a feather to fell a man.

  
Billy took another long drag off of his hand-rolled cigarette and then passed it over to Goody, who accepted it with a grateful nod and took a deep, careful breath. It itched where it hit the back of his throat and sat heavy and needle-sharp in his chest for a frozen second. He let the smoke roll out past his teeth, half-bared in defiance to the rustling branches waving distantly in the crisp fall breeze. Again, the owl screamed.

  
It was one, Goody realized, its presence magnified by the way its voice echoed and bounced off of the cliffs and mountains ringing the wood on its northern edge. One, where he and Billy were two. Goody passed the cigarette back, stepping in close enough to capture the heat of the smoke between them when Billy took another slow breath and released it into the night.

  
“I think a fire is in store,” Goody said casually. “There’s a chill tonight.”

  
Billy canted his head, dark hair catching the moonlight, and lifted one shoulder in a shrug, cutting Goody a look that was only a smirk because Goody knew how to see it.

  
“There are other ways to keep warm,” he said, and Goody couldn’t quite contain his answering grin.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
